Helping businesses and nonprofits in small VT towns use online tools to spur economic development and improve disaster resilience.
At the Vermont Digital Economy Project, we’re passionate about using new technologies to improve disaster resilience and spur economic growth in Vermont. Mobile technology, from the ease of accessing the Internet on a smart phone to using text messaging to donate to an organization or pay your bills, is playing a huge role on both…
After a week and a half of meetings with over twenty nonprofits ranging from historical societies to downtown revitalization organizations, churches, rotary clubs, human services, agriculture education, and arts and disaster preparedness groups, I am struck by how passionate everyone I met was about their organization and their desire to do better. Over the next…
Our hearts go out to everyone who was injured or affected in the unthinkable attack on the Boston Marathon last week. Each of us here at the Digital Economy Project had friends or loved ones at the Marathon or in Boston. While shocked and horrified by the attack, the events were also an example of…
As we discussed in an earlier post, the Vermont Digital Economy Project has been getting its feet wet and meeting with towns to understand their needs and perspectives. However, as we continue to meet with flood-impacted towns (including Woodstock, Killington and Rochester), we are also beginning to dig into the projects and services that each…
Our partners at Microsoft have developed a Digital Literacy program that helps to bridge the digital divide. We’re working with them to integrate their curriculum with efforts already in place in the Vermont State Libraries. What comes out of this project should be fruitful and beneficial to all of those trying bridge the gap between…
An important service offered by our project is the Vermont Small Business Development Center’s digital workshops. They’re designed to teach small businesses how to leverage such hot digital tools as Cloud Computing, Mobile Marketing, Social Media, and Using Google Tools. Based on the Vermont Digital Economy Project Team’s recent discussions with business leaders and nonprofits…
I’ve been struck by census data on rural communities that shows that some rural towns across the country are rapidly urbanizing and others are losing population, especially young people. Vermont is ranked as one of the two oldest states in the nation and one of the two most rural states in the country. The two…
April 8, 2013 (MONTPELIER, VT) – The Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD) announced today the first round of communities to receive intensive services from its Digital Economy Project this year. The Vermont Digital Economy Project is designed to increase resilience and foster economic development in flood-impacted Vermont communities. In the past week, project staff…
One of the most requested items in our application was the “downtown Wi-Fi Zones and Hotspots”. As a member of the Millennial Generation, the benefits of having a free and public wireless zone are intrinsic to my mode of operating. A public internet connection means that there is one more place where I can connect…
Every time I commute to the Vermont Council of Rural Development office in Montpelier, I head north out of my hometown of Ludlow along Route 100 and pass through Plymouth, Bridgewater, Killington, Pittsfield, Stockbridge, Bethel, and Royalton to get to I-89. The bumpy roads en route include multiple bridges still under construction and some houses…